How Could You?
by kittyreilly
Summary: Anton Herzen thought he had met the love of his life, then, one day, he finds her wardrobe empty and her suitcases packed...how will she react when he confronts her about it? Anton/Sophia romance story - not my best work, though -.-


**A/N: I haven't exactly counted, but I haven't noticed many fanfics centred around characters from the second PL game, which is a shame, because I've always thought that was my favourite of the three (maybe because there seems to be more comedy than tragedy in that one...or maybe because it was released on my 13th birthday! :P), so I thought I'd just write a fanfic about Anton and Sophia, who I think are brilliant characters! Read and review! :)  
>BetsyFriday =D <strong>

**Dedication for this story? My gran! Whose house I was at when I wrote it! :D**

**Also, *puppy eyes* can you follow me on Twitter? Pleeeeeease? Google me! BetsyFriday - no spaces. With spaces it's a choreographer from Broadway, and I'm not a choreographer from Broadway. I'm an octopus from Blackpool.**

**How Could You?**

I thought she loved me. I thought I was the man she wanted to be with. Now I see I must have been wrong - very, very wrong...

...She had played her part so well. Always telling me that she loved me and that she had never felt the same about anybody as she had about me, but I have realised that she was lying - maybe not from the start, but she must have lied for a while. The empty wardrobe and drawers told me her getaway must have been in the planning stages for some time...

What sort of a fool had she taken me for? Sophia...

"Anton? Anton, are you home?"

There she was. I pushed the wardrobe doors closed and put the packed suitcases back under the bed, wondering what my next action would be...do I tell her that I had discovered her intentions to leave? Or do I carry on as if nothing had happened and try to prevent her escape without her realising I knew? Then again, she could have broken my heart a thousand times over and I still would love her, and I would still want her to be happy.

"I'm just coming now, Sophia. Won't be a minute."

I closed the bedroom door behind me, and tried to make sense of the events of that afternoon - why was she leaving? We were happy! We were engaged! What reason would she have to leave Folsense?

There had been some trouble with the mines, of course, but I had assured her I would sort it out immediatley! Or maybe it was my father...he didn't want me to be with her! He didn't think she was good enough for our family! Maybe he had paid her off? Maybe he had told her "take my money and run"? But would Sophia really be so selfish that she would do such a thing? She was a woman of pride - not the sort of person who was at all 'easy'...

"Sophia, my darling!" I said, welcoming her home with open arms. "Where have you been? I had returned from the meeting with my father and you were out!"

She looked up at me, nervously, her arms still wrapped around me..."I just had some...business to sort out...how did it go? Have you worked out a solution to the mining problem, yet?"

I shook my head - "I promise you, my love, you have not to worry. I'll work out what I must do soon enough. Things will be back to normal, in time..."

"I'm sure they will." she smiled.

How could she be sure? Nothing would be normal without her around, and I think it was safe to say that it was her intention to leave! After that, I knew - I couldn't let it go on...

"Actually, Sophia...there is something I have been meaning to ask you..."

Her face dropped, and she backed away from me - I could tell she was aware that I knew. I could tell she was formulating her response in her mind.

"W-what is it?"

"Sophia - why are all your clothes disappeared from the bedroom?"

She stared at me, her fists tightly clenched...her eyes showed that she hadn't been intending to tell me, and that she was just going to run and hope I'd not find out until she was too far away for me to do anything...

"Answer my question, please." I said, "I think you owe me that much."

"Anton...I- I was hoping I wouldn't have to tell you..."

"Tell me! I deserve to know!"

She walked over to me, quickly, grabbing tightly onto the collar of my shirt - "Anton...my dear...please, do not jump to conclusions...do not think bad of me!"

"Oh...I had hoped there was no reason for me to think bad of you..."

"But, Anton..." she muttered, wiping the tears from her eyes, "There is..."

I pushed her away. At that moment it had become hard to look at her - I put her before everything else in my life. I had made so many sacrafices.

"It isn't what you think..." she started, "but I _was _going to leave...it doesn't mean I don't love you!"

"Then why leave?"

"I'm leaving _because _I love you!"

"Sophia! If it's my father - if he has told you to leave - you musn't listen! I love you, and that's all that matters! We're happy!"

"We are! But, Anton - you have your duties...I have mine."

"There's somebody else." I declared. "You have somebody else - I knew it."

She held onto me - looked at me, pitifully..."It's true - but not in the way you imagine."

"Then how is it, Sophia?" I asked. "I don't quite understand, and I won't understand until you tell me."

It was all happening so fast. I had woken up next to the woman I was going to marry and spend my life with, and now I was discovering that it was not me she loved, but another man completley.

"I- I can't tell you. I never wanted to hurt you - one day, Anton, you will understand why I have to leave. I will make sure of that."

I thought, beyond all doubt, that she was wrong - how could I ever understand such a thing? How could I ever be even the slightest bit alright with this?

Sophia headed towards the door..."Anton - I have to go...forget my cases...It would be wrong to put you through this any longer. I hope one day that you'll learn to forgive me for what I've done. I've never felt worse about anything, and I really should tell you, but you know your duties are to the people of Folsense - not to me, and not to...well..." she opened the door and stepped outside. "Goodbye, Anton..."

"How could you?" I shouted, following her, taking whatever chance there was that she might change her mind. "You and I are betrothed!"

I grabbed a hold of her wrist, but she pulled away, looking back to me one last time...

"I'm sorry, Anton...but there's someone else who needs me even more than you..."

Sophia - I understand now. I understand why you had to leave me - it hurts that you felt you couldn't tell me, but it makes sense, too...I just wish you hadn't left me hating you. You did love me - I know that now...it's taken me so long, I had forgotten what love even felt like...but when I read the note you had written so many years after, it all comes back to me. Those days I spent with you were the best days of my life, and I hope you can forgive me for thinking wrong of you.

I love you, Sophia, and I always will.

**I know the pacing is sort of off, but I hope you like it! Please review it! I like it when people review my stories! :)  
>BetsyFriday =D<strong>


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